中國iPhone商標權大戰蘋果敗訴

HONG KONG — In China, an iPhone can be found for a small fraction of the official price. It just might not be a phone.

香港——在中國，只要花上一筆遠遠不到官方價格的小錢，你就能買到iPhone產品。但它可能連手機都不是。

A Chinese company has won the right to sell its leather goods under the iPhone trademark after years of legal back-and-forth with Apple, according to an article in Chinese state news media. The case is yet another that centers on names that are well established in much of the world but that have had to fight for control in China, such as the basketball star Michael Jordan and the shoe brand New Balance.

中國官方新聞媒體的一篇文章報道，在與蘋果(Apple)進行多年法律較量之後，一家中國公司獲得了使用iPhone商標出售皮具製品的權利。此前已經有過一些類似案件：在世界很多地方家喻戶曉的名字，不得不在中國爲商標的控制權而戰，比如籃球明星邁克爾·喬丹(Michael Jordan)和鞋類品牌新百倫(New Balance)。

The Chinese company, Xintong Tiandi, applied for the iPhone trademark in China just after the first Apple smartphones came out, in 2007, according to an article by the state-run Legal Daily last week. Still, Xintong Tiandi’s trademark in China, for leather goods, was approved before Apple’s, which had applied for the rights in 2002, the article said.

這家中國公司名爲新通天地。官方報紙《法制日報》上週的文章稱，就在2007年第一款蘋果智能手機發布之後不久，新通天地在中國申請註冊iPhone商標。文中表示，儘管如此，新通天地在中國爲皮具製品申請的商標，仍比在2002年提交申請的蘋果公司更早獲得批准。

The website of Xintong Tiandi features a range of leather products, including pen cases, passport holders, handbags and wallets, all stamped with “iPhone.” None of the products are phones. In a news release issued last week, the company also featured photographs of its other products, like a leather iPad case labeled “iphone” next to a bottle of Rémy Martin Cognac.

新通天地的網站上展示了多款皮具，比如筆盒、護照套、手袋及錢包，全都帶有“iPhone”標識。沒有任何一款產品是手機。在上週的一篇新聞稿中，公司還貼出了其他一些產品的圖片，比如帶有“iphone”標識的一款皮質iPad保護套，旁邊擺着一瓶人頭馬乾邑(Rémy Martin Cognac)。

In the news release, the Chinese company said that the “huge victory brings esteem to Xintong Tiandi’s promise to protect the iPhone trademark,” before adding that it was willing to work with Apple. Apple declined to comment on the case on Wednesday.

在新聞稿中，這家中國公司表示，蘋果“偉大的成功令人尊重，在此，新通天地科技（北京）有限公司承諾：爲了維護好‘IPHONE’商標這一美好的形象”，願意與蘋果公司合作。蘋果週三拒絕對此案置評。

While the Chinese company’s approach might be perplexing, it testifies to the power of Apple’s name recognition in the country. The iPhone brand signals middle- or even upper-class status in China, and many are expected to be willing to pay for a passport cover or other item labeled with the Apple product’s name as a way to show that they have made it.

雖然新通天地的做法可能令人費解，但它證明了蘋果在中國的知名度。iPhone品牌在這裏是中產乃至上層階級的身份標誌，也許很多人願意讓自己的護照套或其他用品上帶有蘋果產品的名稱，顯示自己是成功人士。

The iPhone ruling, in a high court in the Beijing municipality, is just one of a spate of high-profile trademark and piracy cases in China. The country’s huge number of factories, bolstered by a 100 million-strong class of migrant workers, has made China the workshop of the world, able, among other activities, to quickly pump out products that can make a company a quick profit on the impulse to imitate.

對iPhone商標權的裁決由北京市高級人民法院做出，而這只是一連串引人矚目的商標和盜版案件中的一起。中國擁有數量龐大的工廠和逾一億農民工，因而成爲世界工廠。其他不說，只要模仿的念頭一起，他們就有能力迅速造出產品，輕鬆給公司帶來利潤。

Aiding them is a first-to-file trademark system that lets “unrelated third parties register trademarks which are copies or imitations of well-known brands,” according to a post last year from law firm DLA Piper.

中國商標法採用的“先申請制”幫了他們的忙。歐華律師事務所(DLA Piper)去年在一篇帖子中表示，“不相關的第三方因此可以註冊知名品牌模仿品或抄襲品的商標。”

Among other high-profile cases, Michael Jordan lost the rights to the name he is known by in China, and New Balance paid $16 million in damages for what a court said was the illegal use of the Chinese name for the company, which a person had trademarked.

其他一些案例也備受矚目：邁克爾·喬丹失去了在中國使用這個商標的權利，新百倫則支付了9800萬元人民幣的賠償金，因爲法院裁定公司使用這個中文名是非法的，它已經被某個人註冊過了。

Apple had previously faced a similar situation with the iPad. In 2012, the company was forced to pay $60 million for the rights to use the iPad trademark in China. Apple had bought the rights to the name in a number of countries, but after iPad tablet sales took off in China, a Chinese company said it had not secured the rights in that country.

蘋果的iPad此前也遇到過類似情況。在2012年，爲了獲得在中國使用iPad商標的權利，公司不得不花費6000萬美元。蘋果此前在很多國家買下了使用這個商標的權利，但在中國，隨着iPad平板的銷量飆升，一家中國公司表示，蘋果在那裏並沒有取得使用這個商標的權利。

The case caps a tough couple of weeks for Apple. Last month, the company’s iTunes Movies and iBooks stores in China were ordered shut by a national regulator. The company also reported last week that sales in China had dropped, as it struggles to keep the loyalty and admiration of fickle Chinese consumers.

蘋果近幾周來諸事不順，現在又遇到了這樁案件。上個月，蘋果在中國的iTunes Movies和iBooks商店被國家監管機構勒令關閉。中國消費者頗爲善變，蘋果在維持他們的忠誠度和崇尚之情方面遭遇了困難。上週公佈的財報顯示，該公司在中國的銷售額出現了下滑。